Saturday's project, almost done. Gotta reinstall the dash tomorrow.
Enlarged the front speaker cutout by about another 1/4". Had to really trim the top and bottom edges of the 521's, and trim all four sides of the 510's to make them fit in back.

Saturday's project, almost done. Gotta reinstall the dash tomorrow.
Enlarged the front speaker cutout by about another 1/4". Had to really trim the top and bottom edges of the 521's, and trim all four sides of the 510's to make them fit in back.

Your speakers look good and sound good to.

Nice work!

VERY disappointed in the j&m speakers I bought and installed with foam speaker buckets up front. Very muffled and almost no clear highs..

They charge alot but they are just cheap low quality speakers lol.

Wish I had done what you did, but I dont like cutting up almost irreplaceable plastic on the bike. I need to get over that.

bluthunder--I kept the original radio/cassette player for the time being. Bluetooth and amp in future plans.

NOVAwing--Yeah...here is video of the piece I cut out. I figured if it all went wrong, I'd use ABS glue and put the piece back in..

And, here are a few more videos:

Here is how far out the tweeter sticks out. When the grill is back on, there is about a 3/16" clearance due to the outward curve of the speaker grill:

Here is the back side of the dash, and how much it had to be hacked up to fit the new speaker:

Miscellaneous, fine tuning for the speed nuts..1 of 2:

2 of 2:

I had to cut off the top and bottom edges of the speaker frame off. The outer edge of the speaker is rubber, and is glued to the frame. So, by cutting off the top and bottom edges, I cut away part of the outer edge of the speaker. So, the thought was to use liquid rubber to ensure the rubber edge does not come away from the frame. Also, cover up the cut edge, help keep it from rusting.

Seeing the surgical procedure you had to perform, it makes me that much happier that I managed to find, and buy a spare set of DB-501's for my front end. I already have them in the front and have been very happy, but was concerned I may need to replace them in the future, with no replacements available. So, I bought them now, while the getting was good.
I see there are still 10 pairs for sale on Amazon, if anyone is looking. They've been out of production for a while. They are $63, but require virtually no bike surgery for installation, and sound great, or as good as you'll get from the enclosure provided by Honda.

Was there a noticeable improvement over the 501s ? We're only talking 1/4-1/2" size increase. I've found the enclosure, or lack of it, to be the major determining factor on audio quality in the front and rear.

Ok, I got a little lost in the translation on the Polk speaker thread! Is the recommended speaker for fronts Polk DB-501? Original posting said Polk DB-521 for front, DB-501 rear! Sounded like the 501’s mount on the front as well! Want to make sure before purchasing! Thanks

From the backside, those vents are covered by a vent plenum. I was able to move it just a bit to get the tip of a long screwdriver under the clip to help release it's grip on the dash frame.

After reviving some Navy language from a distant past, I discovered that taking out the turn signals gave me a pretty good access to facilitate the removal of the vents. YMMV.

I could have saved you some frustration and foul language - the entire dash disassembly procedure is shown (with pictures) as part of this how-to, and it includes the things you figured out through trial and error: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10998